Disability Allyship #5
Lip Service to Access.
Hi my lovelies, welcome to Disability Allyship.
This newsletter is about all things disability and allyship, to give you a fresh perspective and advice that you can implement immediately to make your world more inclusive of disabled people.
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#Thought - Inspiration Porn: what is it and why you should stop doing it.
Stella Young, a disability activist from Australia, in her TEDxSydney talk in 2014, stated “I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you dramatically. I am not here to inspire you.” And never has a disabled person before been so succinctly quashed the over-riding social norm to make inspirations of disabled lives. What Stella spoke about in her TEDx talk may have seemed revolutionary to the non-disabled people in the audience, but what she spoke about hit home for so many disabled people. Stella reflected back to us the very core of ableism and how it hurts us every single day.
What is this thing she spoke about that would disappoint non-disabled people so much? Inspiration Porn.
[Video description: Stella Young is a woman who has osteogenesis imperfecta, and she uses a wheelchair. In this video she is wearing a black and white patterned blouse and black jeans. She has short blonde hair and is wearing red lipstick and mascara. To view the transcript of her talk click here - Transcript.]
I have experienced my own fair share of inspiration porn over the years, directed at me and also shared with me. And it is awkward and slightly disheartening… basically it’s not inspiring me that you find me (or other disabled people) inspiring for living our lives.
So what is inspiration porn exactly? (for those that haven’t watched the above video - I know you’re busy and are probably saving it for later). Inspiration porn is when you view a disabled person as inspirational on account of their disability. This can present in a number of ways, including, but not limited to - being told your inspirational for just existing, for getting up in the morning, for driving a car, drinking a cup of tea, getting dressed, having a job, playing a sport, having friends, having a romantic partner, for having a go at… something. I am sure that you get my point.
To be frank, inspiration porn is kind of everywhere in life, and it is exhausting, for disabled people. It isn’t inspirational that I am simply living my life every single day, sleeping, showering, dressing, eating, etc. These are activities are quite common (I believe) and regularly done by non-disabled people, so why does disability suddenly turn them into feats of heroism. Disability doesn’t mean that people have to stop living their lives, which inspiration porn seems to imply would happen.
The issue with inspiration porn is that it reduces a disabled persons life to their disability and what is imagined about their disability by those that have never experienced it. This means that, to assuage guilt, pity and fear that a non-disabled person may feel over “DISABILITY”, the actual experience of disability is twisted on its head and framed as an inspiring moment for non-disabled people to learn from. At the expense of how that makes the disabled person feel.
The only proviso I have about inspiration and my own life is the Paralympics. I am more than happy for you to find me inspiring for being an elite athlete, I’ll take that, I worked damn hard to achieve my goals. But never ever, please, never ever, ever tell me that I am inspiring for just showing up, for being here, for living my life… cause I’m not really. I mean if I’m honest, I’m actually quite a lazy person and the least inspirational person you could ever know…
#Action - Don’t Share Inspiration Porn Anywhere.
(Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash)
[Image description: A white coffee tin mug sits on a wooden table. On it is written “What good shall you do today?”]
Linking on from above, this is a pretty easy actionable moment - don’t share inspiration porn in your emails, on your social media, or anywhere else for that matter. Let’s change the narrative of disability by not driving forward narratives that are not representative of lived disability experience.
Instead of sharing inspiration porn disability content that is usually created by non-disabled people, share content from disabled creators, activists and teachers. This will be truer, more authentic content that will actually make a real change in the world for all disabled people.
#Mood - Let’s Go Back To COP26.
(Photo by marianne bos on Unsplash)
[Image description: A black stylised stencil of a person using a wheelchair on a concrete block.]
This weeks newsletter is called Lip Service to Access and there is a reason for this. Last week was the first week of COP26, the most important climate change conference that the world will ever see. It is a conference created and directed by the United Nations and the hosting government, in this case the British Government. These are two organisations who have policies that state access is a human right (check out the UN here and the British Government here).
It is a conference that should have been accessible to all marginalised groups, particularly indigenous people and disabled people, as these are the two communities that are and will be most disproportionately affected by the impact of climate change.
And yet, last Monday, Israeli Minister Karine Elharrar, a wheelchair user, could not access the meeting that she was due to attend at COP26… because the entrance she was directed to was not wheelchair accessible, and no-one could clearly direct her where she should go. In the end she had to return to her hotel; her voice was missing that day, silenced because of lack of access, lack of foresight, lack of consideration.
I’ve heard the excuses… “they should’ve told us that she would need access,” “there was a misunderstanding,” but this is the UN and this is the British Government, and this is an event with money behind it and focus on not leaving anyone behind, and still here they are, leaving disabled people out in the cold (or heat as will be the case as we step into the future).
When it comes to accessibility it should be a given, especially when huge organisations are behind an event that is supposed to represent all communities, all people. Accessibility shouldn’t only be given because it was asked for, it should just be given, you never know when someone with an impairment or condition may turn up and need access. Assumptions about access should never be made.
What also came out last Monday was the lack of BSL interpreters when Boris Johnson was giving his opening speech… lack of BSL interpreters has been a real problem for this government and goes to show the utter contempt and dismissiveness that they have towards access and disabled people.
Are disabled people done with this exclusion? We have been done for decades. It is imperative now that we fight for accessibility, for inclusion, for disability justice alongside climate justice.
#What to read.
(Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash)
[Image description: pink stairs go up against a tiled white wall.]
The cost of living is a lot higher for disabled people than you think. According to a Scope survey, in the UK it costs approximately an extra £583 per MONTH for disabled people to live. For 1 in 5 disabled people that extra cost of living is £1000 per month.
And yes disabled people face inequalities in education and the workplace, meaning they are more likely to live in poverty; and disabled people also face harassment and bullying over the benefits they desperately need to sustained these higher living costs. It’s a lose/lose situation.
This article, by Norwegian academic Jan Grue, is as enlightening as those figures above. It expands upon the economics of disability and into equality, access and inclusion. What is the cost of disability really, in a world that wishes disabled people didn’t exist. Head on over to read “The High Cost of Living in a Disabling World.” Click here.
Please feel free to comment, let’s keep the conversation going. And please feel free to share on your socials, through email, etc. Also, do let me know if there is anything in particular you would like me to discuss or look at, am always happy for suggestions.
Why not follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin (I’m not on Tik Tok yet, frankly that platform scares the pants off me). Also, if you would like to book a speaker or consultant on all things disability, ableism, inclusion, accessibility, etc, pop me a line here - elizabeth@elizabethwright.net
Check out the magazines I edit - Disability Review Magazine, Not Your Monolith, and Conscious Being for more thoughts, advice, and insight into disability lived experience.
Liz x
Phew. I described your Paralympic activities as inspirational. It’s a tough one because the advocacy work is also inspiring. But I can see that there is a line beyond which such comments are patronising. I’m looking forward to hearing you help draw that line.